Making it personal: historical over-identification | Rebekah Higgitt

People identify with historical characters like Richard III or Robert Hooke that they feel have been unfairly treated, but historians remain aware that judgement can be clouded when we make it personalHistorians attempt to be objective in their reading of sources, even as we admit the hopelessness of the task. We may succeed in keeping our minds open in the search for answers, but we inevitably frame our questions in response to contemporary concerns. This is what makes our work meaningful and is, in any case, unavoidable in research of any kind. But what about when it becomes personal?At the end of my viva, I admitted to my thesis examiners that one of the historical figures that I had studied had been a favourite. When surprise was expressed, I was pleased that I had managed to avoid obvious favouritism. I had acted professionally and had successfully put my personal feelings and commitments to one side.This need to keep a professional distance was one of the reasons why some parts of Monday night's Channel 4 documentary about the uncovering of Richard III's skeleton were uncomfortable viewing. In particular Philippa Langley, Secretary of the Scottish Branch of the Richard III Society, was openly emotional about the deceased monarch, and clearly partial. This was not, she was sure, the face of a tyrant.Langley deserves credit for driving the project forward (although we might judge this differently if, like the Spitfires in Burma, the king had turned out not to be in the ca...
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